Can Zotero's layout be changed?

ylotheek
Why is the core information (the actual record with the bibliographic data) in the Zotero layout placed in the side bar, literally shiffted aside? (While the list that is only used for searching is central in the screen, covering much of the screen, which distracts very much from the information one is working with.) Technically Zotero works fine, but the layout is not functional. Can this layout be changed?
  • adamsmith
    edited 6 days ago
    (don't assume that _your_ functional is everyone else's functional)

    Stacked view (under View --> Layout) might work better for you, and, of course, you can resize the different panes using hold&drag.
  • dstillman
    edited 6 days ago
    Not sure what you're asking for here.

    It's not a "sidebar". It's the item details pane. This is a standard hierarchical three-pane layout, used by innumerable programs for decades, with folders/collections on the left, a list view in the middle, and details on the right.

    You can use Stacked mode (View → Layout → Stacked View) if you prefer the details at the bottom.
  • ylotheek
    Thanks for the quick information (even before I noticed that my question was approved and published already). It's the first time I work with software where the central information is presented on the side, so it's new for me. I'm still trying to find out how I can change the layout. Since you mention a "View" menu, I have been searching for such menu (in my language it's named differently) and I don't see it in the web version that I work with. I rembered there's also a PC-version, so I have opened that now and I could find the equivalent of the View menu there as well as the the Stack layout you mentioned. With that I can indeed change the layout and present the information I am working with in the centrally visible part of the screen and that seems to work fine. Also I can enlarge the details pane (what I called "side bar", since it was only a small partion on the right of the screen, to make the information better visible). I'll try this out a bit further. I haven't found a way to change the layout in the web version yet. (I used to work web only, but the license of my previous software ends this year, so I am figuring out how Zotero works, I managed to transfer/import all 3100 records, but haven't worked with this software yet, so I am still in the process of experimenting and deciding how this works for me.)
  • adamsmith
    You can't customize the web library view beyond UI density and dark/light mode, but it _will_ change to stacked mode as part of its responsive design if you zoom in enough.

    "Zotero" unless otherwise specified always refers to the Desktop app, which is more customizable & more powerful.
  • ylotheek
    Thanks, Adam, -and DStillman- this is very helpful, I am learning a lot.
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